Class Provides Firsthand Look at George Washington’s Life

By Beth Lefebvre

GW students stepped into the foyer of George Washington’s family home and immediately gravitated toward a large, black key hanging on a paneled wall.

“Does anyone know what that is?” asked Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens curator Laura Simo.

“I do,” said student Connie Golding. “That’s the key to the Bastille. It was given to George Washington by the Marquis de Lafayette.”

The students had just begun their tour, and already they were connecting with the 18th-century history they had learned about in “George Washington and His World,” a new GW undergraduate course conducted this academic year in partnership with the Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens.

Each week, the 12 undergraduates climbed into a van and left GW for their Mount Vernon classroom, surrounded by rolling meadows, winding paths, towering woods, and a view of the Potomac River, just as Washington saw it from his own home more than 200 years ago.

Taught in the fall semester by historian and GW Professor Kenneth Bowling, an authority on the political and constitutional history of the American Revolution, the course is offered to students majoring in history or American studies. It provides an in-depth, off-campus exploration of Washington’s life through lectures, guest speakers, and by examining the resources at Mount Vernon. Librarians and curators at the Mount Vernon Estate and Museum and at the Society of the Cincinnati—the nation’s oldest patriotic organization—enrich the lectures and readings.

The class is on a pilot basis this academic year; William DiGiacomanto, Bowling’s colleague at the First Federal Congress Project, is teaching the class in spring 2009.

As part of the course, each student researches an individual project about the personal, political, and physical aspects of Washington’s life and estate, and their papers are posted on the Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens Web site at the end of the semester. Student research topics in the fall semester included Washington’s evolving ideas about federal government, the debate over placing the image of Washington on coins, and sports at Mount Vernon.

Through the course, students strengthened their ties with the University’s namesake. They toured Washington’s gristmill and distillery, which they dubbed “awesome.” They were able to hold a diamond-encrusted Society of the Cincinnati medal, made for Washington in 1784 and given to him by the French navy, and which he wore during his lifetime.

Guest speakers included Jack Warren, executive director of the Society of the Cincinnati and an authority on Washington’s presidency, and biographer Patricia Brady, author of Martha Washington: An American Life.

“You can actually imagine Washington, instead of just reading textbooks,” says student Molly Curtis. “You are right where he was.”

At the estate, students experienced Washington’s home just as it was in 1799. They walked on the original, creaky, wide-plank wood floors. They visited the rooms where George Washington slept, ate, laid plans for the Yorktown Campaign, and where he learned he was to become the first president of the United States. Students also had access to the mansion’s third-floor cupola, which is not normally open to the public.

“This is completely hands-on. You’re not just in a classroom listening to lectures,” says student Aileen Mattson. “We get to explore uncharted territory in depth.”

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu